preview

How Did Elizabeth Baghaw Social Change

Good Essays

Elizabeth Bagshaw and the Social Change She Created

Social change is the “alteration of societies noted by the changing of cultural symbols, normative behaviour, social organizations, or value systems” (Form & Wilterdink, 2017, 1). In Canada’s history social change has always been primarily brought forth by influential leaders and their actions. Elizabeth Bagshaw is an exemplar of this as she made Hamilton a more accepting society, established the first birth control clinic in Canada, and used unique medical practices that led to their use in modern medicine.
Bagshaw was a practicing doctor in Hamilton from 1907 - 1976, during which she changed Hamilton’s social, and cultural climate. One of the ways in which she enacted this change was in her early years of practice; through providing care to those “who were unable to pay regular fees” (Wild, 1984, p.55). This ensured that people would not have to put their own health at risk due to the bad economic times. This allowed people access to healthcare in a time when there was no welfare, unemployment insurance, or public healthcare to rely on. This created change because without her volunteer care there was large probability that more people and families would have left Hamilton, or died, due to lack of financial support for basic human necessities. This opportunity to access free healthcare, as …show more content…

For example she would prescribe medicinal liquor prescriptions during prohibition, despite her strict temperance ideology, while other doctors would refuse to do so for the exact same reason (Wild, 1984, p.36). This created change because many doctors at the time would only work, or refuse to do so, under the guidelines of their own beliefs or values, such as for money or for spiritual reasons, but Bagshaw’s thought outside of the norm, setting the example in saying that.

Get Access